The Emmy Vote

I just finished watching the hourlong rerun of last season's "Mad About You" and it was absolutely brilliant--clever, touching and hysterical like many of the best episodes of "Seinfeld" and "Friends."

So how is it possible that "Frasier" is a better show than "Mad About You," "Seinfeld" and "Friends" ("The 48th Annual Emmy Awards: It's NBC and Cable Guys," Sept. 9)? Three years in a row? The answer, to me and everyone I know, is, it's not. Sunday's Emmys are a perfect example of why the whole system of entertainment awards is a sham. When you get three, innovative, popular and culture-affecting shows like these pitted against one another, they split the votes. I'm sure this happens with many of the categories and all the other award shows as well. Am I the first person to figure this out? Why do you think we have runoffs in elections?

ANDY PEARLMAN

Marina del Rey

While reading the "It's NBC and Cable Guys" article by Greg Braxton and Susan King, I came across this . . . (take a breath):

"She's been pessimistic about her chances, partly because she'd been nominated three times previously for 'Mad About You' without winning, partly because she was dubbed the favorite this year after Candice Bergen, who won last year for 'Murphy Brown,' decided not to enter the competition."

Are your writers in some kind of "Dark and Stormy Night" contest or what?

I would like to apply for a position on your writing staff, partly because I've had several articles published in computer trade journals, partly because I'd be a second pick after Ernest Hemingway, who won a Nobel Prize for literature, was deemed unavailable.